


Thanks for Watching

by iam93percentstardust



Series: 1000 Ways to Fall in Love [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Social Media, First Kiss, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: Steve discovers that some of his artwork has ended up in the video of his roommate's favorite Youtuber.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: 1000 Ways to Fall in Love [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1404478
Comments: 58
Kudos: 579





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey Steve?” Bucky called from the living room.

Steve looked up from his sketchbook, slightly annoyed by the interruption. He didn’t like to be bothered when he was working and he _especially_ didn’t like it when he was trying to finish a commission. This one had been sitting in his inbox for a few weeks and while it hadn’t been the longest time he’d taken to finish a commission, he wanted to get it finished sooner rather than later so the client would stop sending him emails every hour asking if it was done yet.

It was probably rude to mark their emails as junk mail, right?

Well, nothing for it. He was out of the zone now. He pushed away from the desk, unable to hide a giddy grin as his chair spun on its wheels. That feeling never got old. Steve stood, stretching out his cramped fingers and rubbing out the sore muscles in his hand.

“What’s up?” he asked, making his way out to the living room.

“Didn’t you do a commission for some guy with a robot?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, sent it off last week. Why?” he replied, rounding the couch so he could see what Bucky was watching.

“I think I found the guy.” Bucky turned his tablet so Steve could see. It was a video from the Youtuber that Bucky liked so much, youknowwhoiam or something like that, the one who did the science and engineering experiments.

“—Today is Dum-E’s birthday so I got him a special present,” the young man on the screen was saying. Steve liked him on sight. It was hard _not_ to like someone with fluffy brown hair, Bambi eyes, and practically bouncing up and down on his chair.

“Isn’t that Tony Stark?” Steve asked, pointing at the guy. He definitely remembered sending the painting of the adorable robot off to someone named Anthony Carbonell.

“Yep,” Bucky said, popping the p.

“There’s no way that’s the guy then. That guy’s name was—”

“Anthony Carbonell. Yeah, I know. I got it after you told me you thought his name was cute for like the tenth time.”

“It is cute,” Steve said defensively. “And it wasn’t just the name. I thought maybe you know where someone might get a robot like that. They don’t exactly sell them at the Apple Store.”

“Whatever,” Bucky said, waving a hand. “Anyway, you know Stark’s mom’s maiden name is Carbonell, right?”

“What does that have to—” He stopped as Stark held up the painting Steve had done. “Oh.”

“Dum-E doesn’t get to have it yet but!” Stark chirped. “But I’m going to frame it and then he can have it. I just don’t want him to tear it and as we _all_ know—” He rolled his eyes here and it felt a little like an inside joke that he was letting the audience in on. “—Dum-E’s fine motor skills are just a little lacking. But sue me. I was drunk.”

He turned slightly, the camera panning out so that they could see a very familiar robot attempting to put a dunce cap over his birthday hat. “No, Dum-E,” Stark groaned. “I was joking about the dunce cap. It’s your _birthday_. You know you were an idiot.”

The robot whirred sadly, its one arm drooping.

“Don’t act like that. You know what you did.”

The arm drooped even further.

“Fine. We’ll play catch or something later.”

Immediately, Dum-E perked back up, beeping happily as it tosses the dunce cap off to the side.

“You see what I put up with?” Stark asked, the camera coming back to him as he jerked a thumb in the direction of the robot. He patted the back of the painting smugly. “I’m going to be hanging this bad boy up later this week and I just know you guys are going to ask about it—and who can blame you, it’s _amazing_. So I thought I’d let you all know who the artist is now and then you can all go and commission him and you should. This guy was a _dream_ to work with.”

Bucky punched Steve in the arm. “That’s you, buddy. He said you were a _dream_.” He batted his eyelashes flirtatiously.

Steve snorted and reached down to shove him off the couch, neatly catching the tablet in his hand as Bucky yelped and dropped it.

“Here’s the link to Captain Brooklyn’s channel—don’t judge him for the awful name,” Stark continued, pointing to a link at the bottom of the screen. “His commission info’s on his About page. Seriously, go check him out. His speedpaints are incredible and frankly, he’s pretty incredible looking.”

Steve was a little dazed. This guy who had several thousand subscribers (and was more than a little adorable) was telling people to go check out _Steve_. Steve wasn’t anybody famous. He had five subscribers, he knew for a fact that Bucky was one of them, and he was pretty sure that his mom was another. Famous Youtubers like Tony Stark didn’t just casually tell people to look at his work and hit on him in the same sentence.

“That’s it for today,” Stark said. “Howard wants me to attend a meeting he’s got with R&D that I’m supposed to be at—” He checked his watch. “—twenty minutes ago. Oops! Wish Dum-E a happy birthday in the comments below, please go throw money at Captain Brooklyn, and, as always..” His smile grew wider, more earnest. “Thanks for watching.”

The video ended with a reminder to like and subscribe, not that Steve paid any attention to them. He had seen a couple of Stark’s videos before. His impression had been of an arrogant playboy who wanted to get a little more fame so he’d started up a Youtube channel. What he’d seen on this video, the young man who bought a birthday present for his robot and commissioned unknown artists, wasn’t anything like that.

“Huh,” he muttered to himself. Maybe he could… He logged Bucky out of the account and then logged himself in.

“What are you doing?” Bucky asked, peeking over his shoulder.

Steve said absently as he pulled up Stark’s channel, “I’m subscribing,” and clicked the button.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve was standing in line, waiting to place his coffee order when he heard someone whine, “But Rhodey, _coffee_!” Somehow, the person managed to drag _coffee_ out into twice as many syllables as it should have had. Dutifully impressed, he turned, wondering who’s whining about coffee—or the lack of, he wasn’t sure which—and was surprised when he recognized the person standing behind him.

He had been watching Tony’s videos for a little over two months by now, growing more impressed (Bucky called it _enamored_ ) with each video. Tony seemed so much more down-to-earth than he seemed in the magazines or the news reports or even his Instagram photos. It was clear that he deeply loved his robots, very much enjoyed inventing, and appreciated the followers that he had. Steve had nearly commented a couple times on his videos, wanting to tell him thank you for giving him that shout out, but he’d always stopped just before he did. He was sure that Tony gave shout outs to lots of artists. He wasn’t anything special even if after Tony’s recommendation, he had jumped from five followers to nearly five hundred overnight and that number kept growing. Two months later, he had almost seven hundred followers and he always had a commission to work on.

He wasn’t expecting to see Tony standing in line right behind him but he was. He was standing _right there_ , chatting animatedly with a tall, black man in an Air Force uniform.

“I’ve only got a few days off, you’re leaving for Boston again in a week, and I don’t want to waste the time we’ve got in a coffeeshop. We can get coffee elsewhere,” the apparent Rhodey said.

“But I like _this_ coffee,” Tony argued. “Tell you what, why don’t you go sit down at a table and I’ll stand in line?”

Rhodey blinked at him. “Why would I do that? That doesn’t solve anything—can I help you?”

It took Steve a moment to realize that Rhodey was talking to him. “Me?” he asked, double-checking.

“Yeah, you. Is there a reason you’re staring?”

“Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to bother you two. It’s just—” He glanced over at Tony. “You’re—”

Tony’s smile turned brittle at the edges. “Tony Stark, yeah, I know. Please no pictures.”

Steve shook his head, feeling guilty about interrupting their day. “No, I meant, you’re youknowwhoiam, right? I mean, you’re Tony Stark, obviously, but—”

Tony blinked. “You—you know me from _Youtube_?” He turned to Rhodey and said, “He knows me from Youtube.” He looked back at Steve and smiled again, more genuine, and it about knocked him back a couple steps with its brilliance. “Are you a fan?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Steve said ruefully, thinking of the week he’d spent after following him when he’d gone back through all of Tony’s videos to watch them. “I started following you two months ago.”

“Oh?” Tony chirped. “What made you—wait.” He narrowed his eyes, taking a closer look at him. “I know you.”

“Yeah, I’m—”

Tony’s eyes widened and he yelped, “Captain Brooklyn!” He swatted Rhodey on the arm a couple times excitedly. “Rhodey, it’s the guy!”

“It is?!” Rhodey exclaimed mockingly. “What guy?”

“ _The_ guy! You know, the one I was telling you about. He did the picture of DUM-E for his birthday.”

“Oh, that guy,” Rhodey said flatly. “Good. Maybe now you can ask him out and put me out of my misery.”

To Steve’s surprise, Tony turned bright red and he looked down at the floor, scuffing the toe of his shoe along his leg. “Nobody wants to hear about that,” he mumbled.

Rhodey looked very unimpressed and he rolled his eyes first at Tony and then at Steve, who wasn’t entirely certain what he’d done wrong. “Please ask this idiot out so that he’ll shut up about your biceps,” he said to Steve.

“They’re nice biceps,” Tony grumbled.

“Sure, Tones, they’re great.”

Steve was charmed, reminded of how he and Bucky usually acted around each other. Rhodey and Tony had the sort of easygoing friendship that only came after years of being friends. He wondered how long they had known each other, if they had been childhood friends just like Bucky and him.

“Captain Brooklyn probably doesn’t want to go out with me,” Tony said glumly. “He probably thinks it’s weird that I talked about how hot he is during my video.”

“Steve,” he said.

“What?”

“My name is Steve. And it wasn’t weird.”

Tony frowned and looked back up at him. “It wasn’t?”

Steve shook his head. “No, it was—” What should he say? Should he tell Tony how flattered he’d been? Should he tell him about how he’d spent most of his childhood and teen years small and sickly? Should he tell him how much fun he’d had worked on the portrait of DUM-E and how Tony had been one of the best customers he’d ever had? “It was nice,” he finished lamely.

“Nice,” Tony repeated skeptically.

“Yeah. It was—” He changed tactics. “I don’t know how you found me but it wasn’t like I was a popular channel when you commissioned me.”

“Really?” Tony sounded surprised and that was really sweet of him, that he thought Steve’s art was good enough to be as popular as him. Maybe not _as_ popular but more popular than he currently was.

“How _did_ you find me?” he asked. He had the channel, of course, but he also had an Instagram and a tumblr, neither of which were particularly well-known either.

Tony shrugged. “My friend Pep. She’s a big artsy kind of person and she’s always on the lookout. She recommended I check you out for DUM-E’s birthday present.” He smiled nervously, jamming his hands into his pockets. “I’m glad I did. You were worth every penny.”

“Thank you,” Steve said softly, sincerely. He didn’t often get feedback from the people who commissioned him and Tony had been so sweet about the whole thing and to say, even months later, that he still loved the artwork really meant a lot to him.

Rhodey leaned over, interrupting them. “Phone number,” he hissed to Tony. “If you’re not going to ask him out, at least ask for his phone number.”

“Thank you,” Tony said sarcastically, shoving him away. “I can get my own phone numbers.”

Rhodey didn’t look convinced. Steve laughed and pulled out his phone, setting up a new contact before passing the phone to Tony. “Here,” he said. “So we can talk—if you’d like.”

Tony nodded eagerly. “I’d like.”


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so he’s known Tony for six months now. It’s not super weird that they’re still not dating right? He knows that Tony thinks he’s attractive—he says it in just about every video that Steve’s in now—and he’s pretty sure that Tony likes the him under the hotness too—or at least, Tony makes sure to reassure him of that after every video—and he definitely thinks Tony’s pretty great.

But they’re still not dating.

He knows it frustrates both Bucky and Rhodey, who ask them about it at least once a week. He’s pretty sure it frustrates Tony’s fans too who always squee about them in the comments. He thinks that’s the term Tony uses.

Squee? Squeezes? Squeegy? No, that can’t be right.

Whatever.

They’re always talking about how cute Steve and Tony are in the comments and wondering when they’re going to start dating. But, hey, Steve’s taking his time, okay? They say the best relationships are those built on a good, solid friendship and that’s what he’s building with Tony right now.

He’s not afraid, no matter what Bucky says.

He’s not.

He might be.

A little.

Maybe a little more than a little.

Okay, so maybe he’s terrified. It’s just that the more he gets to know Tony, the more he gets to see what an incredible, bright, vivacious man he is, the less he feels…worthy, maybe. He’s just Steve Rogers. He can barely keep up with whatever Tony’s chattering about and he wears grandpa pants to go out and he only has followers on any of his social media because of Tony’s shout out. What could he have to offer someone like Tony Stark?

He looks up from where he’s working on his latest commission—a portrait of someone’s wife for their twenty-sixth anniversary since that’s apparently the art one—to where Tony is at the other end of the workshop, doing a Q&A. He does them periodically, usually for subscriber milestones but sometimes for other reasons like an anniversary or a birthday or when he gets enough requests for another one.

“Stuckinmicanopy wants to know how Dum-E got his name,” Tony reads off the screen. In the corner, Dum-E perks up at the sound of his name. “You know, that’s a really good question and it’s one that I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about before. So back at MIT, when Rhodey-bear and I were first working on Dum-E’s programming, he was originally named Laundr because he was supposed to be a laundry bot since we didn’t like doing laundry. And who can blame us? Laundry was created by the devil. Anyway, so Dum-E was supposed to be a laundry bot but then he fell down the stairs like three times in a row and we couldn’t get the bug out of his programming so I called him a dummy and the name just stuck. The spelling thing happened because on Dum-E’s first birthday, we showed him _Wall-E_ and he was infatuated.”

Steve, who has been watching Dum-E steadily trundle closer throughout Tony’s speech, warningly says, “Tony.”

Just in time, Tony turns to stop Dum-E from spraying him with the fire extinguisher. “Nothing’s even on fire, you useless bot,” he exclaims. “Go back to your corner. Go. Shoo. Off you go.”

He gives Steve an exaggeratedly confused look. Steve laughs and shrugs. “He must have heard his name,” he says.

“Must’ve,” Tony agrees. “Okay, next question. Ooh new one just popped up from bellesbagels: is Steve there with me? Yes, he is. Steve likes to come do his art stuff in the workshop because his roommate isn’t there and because I got him a really great easel for his birthday earlier this year. I would tilt the camera so you could all see him but he’s working on a surprise commission and he doesn’t want anyone to see it until it’s finished. Maybe if the next person asks really nicely, he’ll get up and come over here so you guys can say hi.”

“I’ll get up and go over there now,” Steve says, He leaves his brush in the mug and heads over to join Tony by the computer. “Hi Tony, hi viewers.” He drops a quick kiss on the top of Tony’s head—even if he’ll never admit it, Tony _craves_ affection—waves to the camera and meanders back to his easel.

Tony leans back in his chair to give him a fond smile before returning to his questions. “So apparently a lot of you want to know if Steve often gives me kisses and the answer is yes. Steve and I are very affectionate with each other, me because I’m naturally an affectionate person and Steve because I think he feels sorry for me that Howard doesn’t like me.”

“Hey,” Steve protests.

“I’m kidding. Steve and I are affectionate with each other because we both like each other very much and toxic masculinity is ridiculous. And seriously, everyone should take a chance to feel up those biceps at least once. They’re ridiculously huge. So since not everyone gets to see Steve like I do everyday, I will take one for the team and give Steve as many hugs as I can to make up for it.”

See, it’s things like that that make him think Tony _is_ interested in dating him. But then he always adds a “just kidding” or doesn’t follow it up with asking Steve out and he’s just hopelessly confused.

“Shaylabee wants to know when Steve’s birthday is so they can send him a present next year.” He shoots Steve a questioning look. Steve thinks about it and then nods. He’s gotten packages from followers before. They always get sent to Stark Tower where they can be vetted. “Because he is All-American Grade-A beef, Steve’s birthday is ironically on the 4th of July. Next question: lovelyjules asks if Steve and I are aware that we keep acting like we’re dating.”

He pauses and Steve looks up from his easel. Over by the computer, Tony is frowning at the question. Steve gets it. He knows how much Tony hates it when people act like they have to be dating because they give each other hugs and compliments.

“I’ll take this one,” he offers, standing up and joining Tony again.

“Steve—”

“Nah, it’s fine.” He presses another kiss to the side of Tony’s head. “You get this question a lot. Let me handle it for once.” He looks at the camera and takes a deep breath. “Tony and I would like to remind you about what he just said regarding toxic masculinity. We’re very close friends who express our friendship in a physical way but that doesn’t mean that we have to be dating. Tony isn’t interested in anything like that and I respect his choices.” And then, belatedly so that Tony doesn’t suspect anything. “And I’m not either.”

It comes off as a little lame even to him and he thinks Tony might have gotten suspicious judging by the way he frowns oddly.

But when Steve doesn’t say anything else about it, Tony just goes back to the video and says, “That’s all we’ve got time for today. Thanks for listening to me jabber at you today, I’ll be back with a new Science Bros video next week, and as always, thanks for watching.”

Steve waves as Tony turns off the camera, smiling awkwardly.

“Tony—” he starts to say as soon as the blinking light stops flashing.

“Wait. What do you mean I’m not interested?”

He shifts uncomfortably. “Well, you know, you’re always making jokes—”

“You mean flirting with you?”

“You always tell me that you’re just kidding afterwards!” he exclaims

“Because you always look so uncomfortable!” Tony says. “Are you telling me that you never once minded me hitting on you?”

“Why would I mind? I’ve had a crush on you for months.”

Tony gapes at him. “But you never said anything. You just—you looked at me so I just figured you didn’t feel the same. We could have been dating for _months_?”

“I—” Something is stirring in Steve’s heart, something that feels a little bit like hope. “Yes?”

Tony breaks out into a huge grin and he throws his arms around Steve, hugging him tight. “Wow, we’re just as idiotic as Rhodey’s been saying we are.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Steve argues.

“No, no, Honeybear is always right.”

“We got here, didn’t we?” he points out. “Last I heard, Rhodey was betting on us never getting our shit together.”

Tony laughs brightly, nuzzling deeper into Steve’s chest as he does. Slowly, Steve puts his own arms around Tony. They’ve hugged before, many times really, but this feels…different, momentous even.

“Hey, Tony?” he asks hesitantly, wondering if he’s allowed to do this now.

Tony hums happily.

“Can I— _may_ I, I mean—kiss you?”

His answer is to slide his hands up Steve’s chest, hook around his neck, and pull him down for the softest, gentlest kiss Steve thinks he’s ever had. His own hands slide down to fit around Tony’s waist, bringing him up close as he opens his mouth on a content sigh.

Tony pulls away but doesn’t go far, instead resting his forehead against Steve’s. “That was nice,” he whispers.

“Mmhmm,” Steve agrees. “You want to go out with me tonight? Something low key, maybe?”

“Burgers and milkshakes?”

“Share the milkshake?”

“Would we do any less?” Tony asks, mock-indignantly.

Steve chuckles and kisses Tony again, letting his lips linger. He’s allowed to do this, he gets to _have_ this, have _Tony_. They’re going to be the disgustingly cute couple driving Bucky and Rhodey crazy, he just knows it.

“No,” he says. “Probably not.”


End file.
